Check out the interesting article by Kevin Kelly at kk.org on how Amazon may offer the Kindle reader for free. If his speculation pans out, others will follow. Along with addressing the price of the devices is the continued development of these to provide a compelling and enjoyable experience.
no, I am not advocating free e-reader, just noting that they could be around the corner. Look at the cost of mobile phones now compared to 10, 15 and 20 years ago.
We are promoting the latest issue of Top Gear magazine with this display facing onto the dance floor.
Our team members have created a multifaceted display which works from multiple sides – not just front on. They have used the display unit and fixturing next to this. It creates a bold and inviting look which draws people into the business.
We don’t have a shop window and so do not do take the usual newsagent approach of blocking the look of the store with magazine posters on the window. Instead, we create displays like this which look terrific and off of which shoppers can browse and purchase.
Compare this display to posters on a front window and I know which I would prefer as the retailers and the shopper. The proof of any display, however, is in the sales. We track sales from every display and learn from these results.
We are promoting the latest issue of Diabetic Living at the counter.
Diabetic Living responds well to impulse purchase opportunities – hence our placement at a high impulse location. We also have stock placed in with our women’s weeklies as well as health titles. The weeklies placement works best for us, always has.
I have seen newsagents underestimate Diabetic Living, thinking it is a title which will only appeal to diabetics. The 2007–08 National Health Survey indicated that 4% of the Australian population has diabetes. This is an extraordinary number. Find out more about this here. Diabetic Living is for these people, their families, friends and those aware of the risks of diabetes. This is why it works so well in the women’s section. I see it very much as a mainstream title and not a health title.
We even run Diabetic Living at the counter as a magazine of the Week for at least one week of the on-sale enjoy a sales boost as a result.
Other retailers with this title do nothing extra. This is why newsagents have an excellent opportunity with Diabetic Living.
The latest issues of Blitz magazine and Golf magazine came out yesterday with the same barcode. It took Gordon and Gotch until 11:55am today to issue advice – a day and a half after many newsagents would have discovered the situation. The support team at Tower Systems was onto this immediately with advice for users of the Tower newsagency software on how to handle the situation. Gotch knew yesterday and should have been more proactive. As to how two magazines can have the same barcode … nuts!
How would newsagents feel if they discovered that a competitor in the magazine space was financially compensated when a title did not achieve the retail sales projected by the publisher or distributor?
Just asking…
I am not naive enough to think that all newsagent retailers have the same terms. There are many factors in play in negotiating terms including financial, operational and business clout.
It could/should be in the interests of publishers and distributors to at least seek to negotiate similar terms for newsagents if their commercial goals can be met. Otherwise, newsagents, who account for 50% of magazine sales yet sit at the bottom end of the magazine sales channel, ought to stop aspiring to improve their businesses. If we are all paid the same then we all aspire to act and work the same. That’;s not business.
Maybe magazine publishers and distributors would see an improvement in the performance of magazines in newsagencies if newsagents had the opportunity of more attractive commercial terms.
Just sayin…
Walking along Circular Quay in Sydney early in the morning a couple of weeks ago I noticed a homeless lady eating some breakfast and reading before hitting the road with her shopping trolley for the day. She was reading People’s Friend magazine. Then I noticed that she had a stack of People’s Friend issues in her trolley.
I didn’t have the guts to approach this connoisseur of People’s Friend on this morning. Now, two weeks on, I wish I had. I find myself thinking about her every couple of days. Partly because my mum reads People’s Friend and partly because this has been one of our top selling weekly magazines, number 4 in out top sellers in fact – between 55 and 70 copies a week.
On the main thoroughfare at Circular Quay that morning many people walking past my lady were connected to their iPhones or iPods, devices which challenge print. She was oblivious to the digital world and enjoying a story in People’s Friend. Long after our batteries are out of juice she will be able to enjoy the next story in the magazine. While so many of us need the next device in our hands to define our social status, this lady and plenty of others I am sure will get plenty of pleasure from the printed word.
I have realised that I keep thinking about what I saw that morning because it represents the intersection of two issues I often think about. People’s Friend is an old style weekly magazine where words matter and which owes nothing to garish design, celebrities, fads or free gifts. It is a print product which engages the consumer without the use of batteries and in a more engaging journey than much of the content one accesses on the i devices from Apple.
Change is inevitable. Print as a medium will be used less over time. Along the way, it is important for us to take the odd moment to recognise the importance and value of print to some. It is a vitally important medium for our businesses after all. In the short to medium term, print continues to present excellent opportunities for newsagents … for proactive newsagents that is.
What has this got to do with anything? Nothing I guess. I am sitting on a long flight listening to some nostalgic music, yes – on my iPod, as I write this. I wanted to write about the lady I saw at Circular Quay and try and share the warmth I feel when I think about her.
No sooner had I published my post yesterday about the Classic The Children’s Birthday Cake Book and a customer came in and purchased six copies. She had noticed the title on display at our counter and when she sought it out a few days later she could not find it. So, we sold six copies as a direct result of our counter display.
Yesterday, our team created a higher impact display, to leverage which is proving to be a popular and unique product for us. W3e have ordered more stock as a result. This is where newsagents have a real opportunity in the magazine space – catering to special interests. In this case, the interests are nostalgia as well as baking.
Newsagents and Big W are the only retailers with this title until June. This screams OPPORTUNITY to me.
To the newsagents who have placed this cookbook in with other cookbooks I’d say – treat it as a special title, as an opportunity to drive good incremental business. I’d expect that in most newsagencies, sales will flow easily.
UPDATE from ACP: Between 9-11am today on the Kerry Anne show on channel 9, Xanthe Roberts (AWW Assistant Food Editor) will be featuring the two cakes from The Children’s Birthday Cake Book; this should further increase awareness of the title. It also has a feature within this month’s issue of AWW.
We are promoting the latest issue of MasterChef magazine with a display facing customers as they leave the store. This is in addition to a tactical co-location campaign for the title.
The goal with the exit display is to have one last crack at getting shoppers to browse and purchase the title. I love the way our team members have used some simple elements to create an effective display … making it about more than just a magazine poster.
While I think that MasterChef magazine has its regular customers, I also think that a reasonable portion of purchases are on impulse. Hence our multi-layered approach to grab this impulse business. This month;s Rick Stein cover should drive a nice boost in sales too.